After two years of delays, Egypt is preparing to finalize the gas deal signed with Israel in the coming days.
The deal, initialed in August, is not just a commercial agreement.
It is the story of a strategic transformation reshaping the region’s energy map—placing Cairo at the heart of gas liquefaction and export to Europe and Asia, while granting Tel Aviv a prime position as a leading supplier. The deal is just part of a larger regional race where economic interests overlap with geopolitical calculations, as Europe frantically searches for alternatives to Russian gas.
From Blackouts to a Strategic Pivot
In the summer of 2023, Cairo was plunged into darkness.
Massive blackouts exposed the fragility of the country’s energy system. With mounting economic pressures and soaring global gas prices, Egypt turned to Israeli fields as a quick, practical solution to secure its needs, leveraging its advanced liquefaction facilities in Idku and Damietta to re-export to Europe and Asia.
“The deal aimed to multiply three or four times the amount of liquefied natural gas that Egypt imports from Israeli fields,” says Mariam Wahba, a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies specializing in Israeli affairs, speaking to Alhurra.
Regional and Global Chessboard
The Egypt–Israel gas deal coincides with a broader regional and international realignment.
For Cairo, the 2023 blackouts and a worsening economic crisis—runaway inflation, currency collapse—forced the government to seek stable and affordable energy sources. The agreement guarantees enough gas to stabilize its grid and strengthen its role as a key LNG exporter.
Regionally, the deal reflects a wider energy chessboard, with Turkey, Qatar, and the UAE all racing to stake positions in the Eastern Mediterranean’s emerging energy network. Globally, the deal is part of Europe’s urgent quest to diversify away from Russian gas after the Ukraine war.
While they cannot match the scale of those provided by Russia before 2022, supplies from the Eastern Mediterranean offer Europe a crucial diversification buffer—signaling that the region has become a central player in global energy security.
Israel’s Rise as an Energy Powerhouse
In little more than a decade, Israel has transformed from a resource-poor importer into a major energy player.
The discovery of the Tamar field in 2009, followed by Leviathan in 2010, upended its energy equation. Today, over 90% of Leviathan’s output goes to Egypt and Jordan—making Cairo the main gateway for Israeli gas exports.
Wahba points to the economic viability of the agreement, noting that Egypt owns the Idku and Damietta liquefaction plants – the only facilities in the Eastern Mediterranean capable of converting natural gas into LNG and re-exporting it to Europe and Asia.
International oil and energy expert Mamdouh Salameh told Alhurra that a direct pipeline from Israeli fields to Europe would cost more than a trillion dollars. “The logical solution was to cooperate with Egypt, which already has the infrastructure.”
Egypt entered the game strongly with the 2015 discovery of the Zohr field, boosting output by 40% in two years. But rising domestic demand and declining production soon pushed Cairo back into deficit—making Israeli gas the only viable option.
A Pipeline in Reverse
The Egypt–Israel gas connection has its own turbulent history.
The 90 km Arish–Ashkelon pipeline, opened in 2008 under a 2005 agreement, was originally designed to send Egyptian gas to Israel. But after 2011, amid Sinai unrest, it became a frequent target—bombed more than 15 times—collapsing the deal.
“This security fragility was the direct reason for halting Egyptian gas exports to Israel,” says Ghaith al-Omari of the Washington Institute, speaking to Alhurra.
The equation later flipped. With massive Tamar and Leviathan discoveries, Israel gained a surplus just as Egypt faced shortages. In 2020, gas began flowing the opposite way—Israeli gas to Egypt via the same Arish–Ashkelon line, reinforced by a backup land route through Nitzana.
Still, the network remains vulnerable to political or security shocks – just as Sinai once showed.
Turkey’s Counter-Move
Meanwhile, Turkey has moved aggressively to cement its role as a key corridor. The TANAP pipeline, launched in 2018, carries Azerbaijani gas to Europe at up to 16 billion cubic meters annually. By early 2025, a new agreement—backed by Qatari financing—extended Azeri gas supplies to Syria via Turkey, further strengthening Ankara’s bargaining position with the EU.
For Europe, Israeli gas is not a top priority compared to Azerbaijan or Qatar. But, as al-Omari notes, “the Eastern Mediterranean has now become a central node in the energy security equation.”
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the East Med holds more than 122 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas, drawing global majors into a crowded, competitive arena.
Bigger than Economics
From Cairo to Tel Aviv, Ankara to Brussels, the Egypt–Israel gas deal is more than an economic arrangement. It is an energy-driven alliance reshaping power balances in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The question remains: will gas be a bridge to stability and cooperation—or a spark for new conflicts in a volatile region?
Randa Jebai
Randa Jebai is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years of experience. She joined Alhurra TV’s investigative team in 2020, earning honors from the AIBs, New York Festivals, and the Telly Awards. She previously worked with major Lebanese outlets and holds master’s degrees in law and journalism.
